Green Wealth: How to Turn Unusable Land Into Moneymaking Assets [Paperback]

Kevin F. Noon (Author), Judith A. Ward (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2007

Only a fraction of this country’s land can be farmed or developed. What happens to the land that is not economically viable? Until a few years ago, the value of such property would have remained flat, with little prospect of appreciating. Today, however, the Federal government has created a huge incentive to turn this land into moneymaking assets. Green

Wealth explains how newly enacted laws can benefit those who invest in environmentally reconstituted land development.

The Feds, along with many state governments, now allow for the creation of individual environmental “banks,” which are established by converting unproductive property into

new wetlands, endangered species reserves, water storage reservoirs, and a host of other types of environmentally protected land. Credits are then issued to the landowners—credits that can be sold to developers seeking to build on

previously protected properties. As building continues in one place, new environmentally sound acreage is created in another. Now you can perform an environmentally responsible service and make a highly profitable investment

at the same time.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This dense and informative introduction to environmental banking, written by two eco-bank cofounders, guides private investors in setting up a viable business that can help restore ecological balance. More abstract than financial banking, this environmental model allows the banker to cultivate an environmental project such as a wetland, and to "sell" its positive impact as "credits" to a company that might have harmed other wetlands, in an attempt to restore overall balance. The concept introduces entrepreneurialism and profitability into resource management, countering previous strategies of "command and control" that have allowed industry to ignore or simply pay fines for environmental transgressions, or to make inadequate moves to restore the environment. After defining the concept and providing an industry overview, the authors explain how to set up such a bank and instruct readers on evaluating profitability. In addition to supplying significant detail on the various bank types (particularly for wetlands, but also for endangered species, carbon, water quality and land development rights), they include an annotated business plan, prospectus and an appendix of resource recommendations. More than just an introduction to this complex subject, this comprehensive and definitive guide offers readers a blueprint for starting their own banks. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Kevin F. Noon, PhD, received his doctorate from Texas A&M University, specializing in wetland science. For twenty-five years, he has been involved in land improvement and environmental policy development. Currently, he is chairman and cofounder of Critical Habitats, Inc., and of Sustainable Environments LLC—land development and consulting companies that specialize in environmental banking.

Judith A. Ward, ASLA, received her bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Arizona. An award-winning landscape architect with over twenty-five years of experience, Ms. Ward is now president and cofounder of Critical Habitats, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 273 pages
• Publisher: Square One Publishers (January 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 075700282X
• ISBN-13: 978-0757002823
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,731,000 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Australian Perspective, April 10, 2007

By 

Dr. Hugh J. Lavery (Queensland, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Green Wealth: How to Turn Unusable Land Into Moneymaking Assets (Paperback)

This is a pioneering work in the critical business of sustaining our environment. It is practical, logically set out, and easy to read. It recognizes the increasingly evident shortfalls in public sector command-and-control measures to manage our landscape, and offers tested methods to extend conservation into the broader countryside of the private landholder.

The authors are to be admired for sharing their considerable field experience. The attractive form of the book makes it of particular value when it can be so confidently offered to private enterprise CEOs as essential reading for their futures.

1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Greenscam, September 1, 2007

By 

Ag Nag - See all my reviews

This review is from: Green Wealth: How to Turn Unusable Land Into Moneymaking Assets (Paperback)

This book is greenscam. The premise of this book is that the current condition of communities can be "improved" by private equity eco-raiders coming in and turning farms and other natural resource properties into profits for investors - they're developers.